My First Spiral Jetty Experience

Over the summer, I decided to check out the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake. My photo professors always said that it was a photographer's dream so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I was amazed when I got there. The landscape is unreal: dry yet beautiful, I could've stayed there all day! (though I could've done without the smell and the heat)

There's a great/sad story that goes with this trip (refer to last picture). I was walking around the jetty, taking a bazillion pictures, then I saw something cool in the distance. I started to walk toward it and after about 10 steps, I felt my foot sink into something unearthly. It felt like mud but it was too slimy. It was also really stinky and hot from the sun. I was wearing flip flops (never again!), so I pulled my foot out, but my flip flip was still stuck. I pulled my flip flop out with my hands and put it back on - it was disgusting and hot. I tried walking in a different direction, but my other foot started to sink so I had to tread lightly. I finally found some spots (far and few between, it seemed) where the ground was more sturdy. I FINALLY made it back to my car, but my shoe reeked of whatever crap was in that nasty black stuff - I don't even want to know!! I put my shoe in a plastic bag that was luckily in my car and drove home. I was later told that the black stuff was probably tar (I don't believe them). Even so, next time I'm wearing fishing boots!!

Beautiful!! But proceed at your own risk...

The sky was PERFECT

The damage. Yeah, it was pretty gross...

Marissa & Nate's Engagement Shoot

I recently went home to photograph one of my sister's engagement photos. They are such a fun, cute couple so it made my job easy :) I also designed their invitation, as you'll see below. It was a fun little project :) Congrats, Mars and Nate!!

Marissa being a model. She's a natural!

A little cheesy, but I love the lighting

Candids are the best!! He likes to make that face :)

I tell them to hold hands and look at each other and this is what they do... love my family (and family-to-be) haha 

Page 1

Page 2

Whole Layout

Rock Canyon Shoot

My sister, bro-in-law, and I did a photo shoot in Rock Canyon Park in Provo this past weekend. The intent was to get a super awesome action shot of my bro-in-law going off a jump...but then he got a flat tire, so we opted to just take a still shot instead...and then do a mini portrait shoot just for fun. It was the perfect day because it was just cloudy enough to make the sky look cool.

While I was editing the photos, my sister was amazed at how well Camera RAW retained the detail in a really under-exposed photo. One of the many things I like about RAW photos :)

Maybe next time my bro-in-law won't ruin his tire right before the shoot so I can actually get a cool action shot ;) Until then, here are the rest of the photos!

Chuy was going to jump so Chrissy tested it out for me

Buuuut then he had to get a flat tire, so I just took a still instead...

Under-exposed

Recovered in Camera RAW - AMAZING!

Then color-corrected/adjusted

Beautiful sunspot in the field

Aaaand just for fun...

Yeah, she's pretty cool

Beautiful lil sis :)

She found Iron Man!!

She tried to focus but failed...

Gettin my Chi on. It's harder than it looks!

It was reeeeaaally bright!

Hawaiian Adventure

It's been another long while since I've updated this, so here are a couple of recent happenings:

- After 9 months of working as a Graphic Designer at Xi3, I got laid off, along with 2 of my co-workers. It's a blessing in disguise because it's given me the chance to update my portfolio, but I also miss my old co-workers.

- Because of the free time I had, I got to visit my friend in Hawaii!! Oahu, to be exact.

It was my first time outside of the continental US and it was amazing. The people there are so nice and chill (sometime too chill, but I won't get into that now...) Not to mention the scenery was beautiful, which you'll see below. I was so impressed at the turquoise water and how green and alive everything was. It's almost impossible to take an ugly picture there. *almost* There were a lot of really cool-looking trees, too. Oh, and the weather was super bipolar. I thought Utah was bad, but during my first day there, it was sunny, then rained, then was sunny again - all within about 5 minutes. (as seen in the first photo below)

I brought a more compact camera than my huge Nikon D700 so I could carry it around more easily, so the quality of the pictures isn't as good, but for a fraction of the cost, I think it did it's job pretty well.

The trip was so fun. I went on beautiful hikes, learned how to surf, swam in a waterfall, saw a sea turtle while snorkeling, and got to swim in warm ocean water during the winter time. Needless to say, for someone who doesn't get to travel to new places often, it was amazing!! :)

Next stop: Australia and/or New Zealand!! (In like 10 years...)

(TIP: Click on the photos to expand them)